Abraham Lincoln did it. And he did it very well. That is to say the 16th president of the United States pursued his early studies at home on the family farm, later applying his home-based learning in entrepreneurial pursuits and, most famously, in leadership.

Prior to the twentieth century and the rise of compulsory K-12 education, many prominent Americans learned their ABCs and 123s at home either through self-education or tutors. But while Lincoln and other presidents, scholars, tycoons, and scientists were ‚Äúfamous homeschoolers,‚ÄĚ their stories shed little light on the experiences of modern homeschool families‚ÄĒespecially those who live in rural areas during the Information Age.

In recent years, there‚Äôs been a discernible rise in the number of families returning to homeschooling. According to the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), over 1.5 million children were estimated to...